Signs

 The late 50s does not seem that historically long ago to me, and I remember my father telling me about a sign on a hospital door in Toronto (where he was a new immigrant) saying "No Irish" at the end of an advert for a job.

So when I was a kid in 1971, it was no wonder I loved the anti-establishment song "Signs" by the hippy Ottawa group Five Man Electrical Band. In their song, most signs were a bad thing, as they usually had a negative aspect about them.

Since then, however, I have come to enjoy various signs which catch my attention for their good advice - as in this manipulated sign which appeared in Austin Kleon's book Steal Like an Artist,

their positive affirmation (though this may be graffiti - I am not sure as I found it on the Cass Art facebook page),

charming double meaning (this is a road sign at Nice airport taken out of context, but appropriate to my recent bad experience with French train service),

and/or just plain old surreality! (I know I posted this Dublin sign before, but couldn't resist doing so again.)

Reading and Art

I have been getting back to my Van Gogh letters book, reluctant to finish it as I know the ending... But I was glad that this edition of the letters includes some of the sketches he made and sent off with letters when talking about his art. Like this sketch of his bedroom, which he sent to Theo when he was describing the painting of his bedroom that he was working on.

The letter was dated the 16 October 1888. In a letter from 8 days later, he seems to be speaking to me directly - and I dare to hope it is the truth: "I cannot help it that my pictures do not sell...The day will come, however, when people will see they are worth more than the price of the paint and my living expenses, very meagre on the whole, which we put into them."

Work or conserve?

Since I have been painting the Moments series on raw canvas, I thought I had better do the recommended conservation procedure of applying gel coats to the finished paintings. I hadn't been doing this as I finished the paintings, so had some catching up to do.  I am now on the sixth painting out of 9 finished works, and it is taking awhile as I need to apply 3 coats to each painting. I can only do one painting at a time, as most of them are large. Currently I am applying the gel coat to Chicago Thumb Wars. The gel is diluted with water and dries a clear matte, so the horizontal streaks which are visible in the closeup below will become invisible. I know this is true because I first did some tests, as recommended by Golden paints, and I already have 5 paintings with the gel coat completed before tackling this one!

I am chomping at the bit to finish the gel coats on these paintings so I can finish two more which are also on raw canvas and get their gel coats done. I want to start some large drawings, still in the Moments series but on kraft paper, throwing conservation to the wind! Last week I was asked by the building manager, at the office where I work part time, if I could use a big roll of brown paper. Yes thanks! My husband James was picking me up at work that day with the car and the roll of paper was waiting for me at the exit as I was leaving. The paper roll was very heavy, so James carried it up to the attic studio for me where it looks at me questioningly every time I am working on gel coats...

Pictures and Words

I still have a stack of books on the go, but am particularly enjoying three specific art books I have: the Picasso Museum Antibes permanent collection catalogue that I bought last year after my first visit there, the Jean Charles Blais exhibition catalogue that I bought this year from the Picasso Museum Antibes after seeing Blais's show there, and the Singing Skies.  Singing Skies is the beautiful book created by painter Suzanne Osborne and songwriter/poet/singer Stuart Staples (Tindersticks) -- the book pairs images of Osborne's paintings with Staples's writing.

The other day I took Singing Skies outside to get a better look at the paintings, as the dim indoor light of my house was not doing justice to the paintings. I am not sure if the scan does the painting below justice either as the printing quality in the book is quite good! In any case, the painting below, one of my favourite in the book, is "May 18 2011" and it is paired with Staples's "Marbles". Osborne did a painting of the sky each day for the whole of 2011 and the paintings are simply entitled by date.

Antibes

I did a Placement© off the balcony of the apartment we stayed at while in Antibes. The fuzzy white blur in the distance is Jaume Plensa's Le Nomade lit up at night. The sculpture at the harbour was a convenient short walk from our apartment.

I like coming across interesting graffiti in different places. Though it looks like a drawing in this photo, I think it was actually a stencil/spray image.

One day while walking along the town ramparts along the sea, there were a lot of signs up. There was a major car rally as citroen after citroen drove by with the car occupants waving. In every car it was the same: the occupants wore blue-rimmed sunglasses. This sign, though, we figured was probably for the benefit of a wedding cavalcade using the same route as the car rally!

On the Saturday morning we decided to go to the archaeological museum situated near the seafront in a medieval army barracks.  The museum was quite beautiful, consisting of two large tunnel-like rooms with high ceilings.  It was a small museum but had some fabulous artifacts.

Most of the artifacts were found around Antibes, including items from shipwrecks off the coast. It was interesting to see familiar artifacts, like ancient urns, covered in barnacles. And really great not to be separated from the objects by glass.

Le Nomade - Antibes

While in Antibes we of course paid several visits to the fabulous sculpture Le Nomade by Catalan artist, Jaume Plensa. The figure looks out to sea from the rampart above Port Vauban harbour, a short walk from the apartment we stayed at.

The figure is made up of painted stainless steel letters and invites you to enter it and explore both inside and out. The curve of the arms create a seating space inside, and despite the "no climbing" signs, it is very tempting...

Yes, the sky was really this clear and blue while we were there!

Le Nomade continues to impress at night when it is lit up!

Picasso Museum in Antibes!

I just got back Wednesday night from a week in Antibes! It is happily becoming an annual visit. Last Friday I paid a visit to the beautiful Chateau Grimaldi which is home to the Picasso Museum in Antibes.

From below the ramparts one can see the four bronze figure sculptures by Germaine Richier.

This sculpture, Jupiter et Encelade, by Anne & Patrick Poirier is my favourite sculpture on permanent display. Last year when I was at the museum, the initial proposal drawing was displayed inside next to a window overlooking the sculpture, but  I couldn't find it this year. That is one of Germaine Richier's figures on the wall beside it.

There was a fabulous temporary exhibition by Jean Charles Blais on till June 9th so I just got in there in the nick of time to see it. This is one of his more recent silhouette paintings, but it was fabulous seeing a good overview of his oeuvre.

The museum is of course a setting for lots of Picasso's work! This is one of my favourites, La Chèvre, from 1946.

When I was at the museum last summer I fell in love with this Nicolas de Stael painting, Le Concert 1955. To my disappointment it was not on display this year though it is part of the permanent collection. However, I have the museum catalogue so I can fondly flip through pages.